thanks for the coffee
by Cerulean Pen
Summary: "You don't buy any stranger you see in the hall a drink." "Who said you're a stranger?" "I did."/Or, whenever Beck tries to do something nice for Jade, she cleverly finds a way out of it. Beck/Jade.


thanks for the coffee

Summary: "You don't buy any stranger you see in the hall a drink." "Who said you're a stranger?" "I did."/Or, whenever Beck tries to do something nice for Jade, she cleverly finds a way out of it. Beck/Jade.

English Romance/Hurt/Comfort Rated: T Chapters:1 Words: Beck O. & Jade W.

**a/n: **Got inspired after discovering a deleted story on an old hard drive, that had a similar plot to this one-shot, only it sucked-like, really bad. So, I put on my thinking cap (or, basically, turned on my iPod) and wrote this. Yeah, may or not suck, I'm not sure. Leave a review, and tell me.

"Hi."

"Whatever."

They start as simple as that.

:::::

Jade does what her mother tells her not to do, and doesn't do what her mother tells her to do: it sounds confusing, but to Jade, it's a simple way of life. Which is exactly her answer whenever some idiot of a stranger asks her about the piercings in her eyebrow, or the streaks of blue in her hair, or the black tattoo on her arm. Sometimes, her answer is "fuck off, you weirdo" and sometimes she says "it's me."

That's the first thing she notices about this guy. Well, that's not entirely true-the first thing Jade notices about him is his hair, which is shoulder-length, but strangely cool looking, and she has a sudden, primal urge to run her fingers through it. The second thing she notices is that he doesn't even question her highlights or piercings or even her bad-girl tattoo. Just a simple, civilized, slightly nervous "hi." Jade is unsure how to react to him, so she turns on her heel.

"Whatever."

But she stares at the back of his hair for the rest of the day.

:::::

First, there's Cat, and sometimes, Cat makes Jade feel dizzy, with her rapid change of topic, her daring outfits, her blindingly red hair. But Cat is too sweet and innocent to be annoyed at for more then five minutes, and the times when Jade just wants to murder Cat normally turn into a "oh my God, I just want to hug her, she's so adorable." No one else will eat lunch with Jade but Cat, so what else is she supposed to say when Cat sits down next to her?

"So, my brother had my mother's tweezers, and he was about to stick them into the power outlet, when my dog…" Cat is in the middle of one of her outrageous, yet true, stories about her older brother when _he _comes. Jade is half-listening, half drowning Cat out with the sound of herself chewing her sandwich.

And suddenly, Beckett Oliver is sitting in front of her, with his shoulder-length hair, and Jade's fingertips start to tingle. She narrows her eyes at him, but Cat abandons her story, chattering eagerly about what she saw him do in acting class and how she liked how he did somethingorother, it doesn't really matter to Jade.

After Cat has rambled for a good six minutes, and finally starts eating her lunch, Beck turns to Jade, who stuffs the crusts of her sandwich back into her lunch bag. "So, what about you?" It comes out flirty, but Beck is truly curious; who wouldn't be? Jade shoots him a death glare that doesn't seem to go through, because he's still half-smiling, half-smirking.

"What about me?" Jade answers, slinging her bag over her shoulder like she's going to leave the table; Cat is watching them like a TV program, her doe eyes wide and excited. "I'm Jade West." He sticks out his hand, and for a moment, Jade thinks that he's absolutely, positively insane-then she realizes that he just wants a handshake. Jade rolls her eyes, yet has to cough so he won't see the smile that threatens to turn the corners of her lips up.

"I like you." Beck's mouth moves faster then his brain, so it just comes out in a rushed, guttural, "oh crap, I didn't mean to say that, I wish I could turn back time" kind of way. He's not lying though, and braces himself for a slap, or perhaps a punch to the mouth, which is exactly what Jade gave to Robbie, the kid with the puppet.

Jade raises an eyebrow. "Not for long," she replies stonily, and actually leaves this time, ignoring Cat's mews for her to return and Beck's eyes boring holes into the back of her skull.

:::::

A few days later, there's a latte sitting in her locker: not just any latte, but a cinnamon dulche latte, which happens to be her favorite Skybucks drink. Jade picks it up (it's still warm) takes a sip (damn, that's good) and looks around for the coffee stalker. There's no one in the hallway, except for Cat, who is talking to that weird new girl, Tori Vega. Jade does not like Tori.

"Cat!" Jade calls, taking another sip of the latte since it's so damn good, "did you leave me this coffee?" Cat giggles like a lunatic, which is never a good sign (but it's pretty normal for Cat) and that Tori Vega girl grins slightly, seeming to be scared of Jade-good. Jade starts to feel this little fluttering in her chest, an emotion she has never experienced until now…is it anxiety? Nerves? Lov-never.

"Well, Beck asked me what your favorite coffee was, so I told them, and then he said, 'wait don't tell Jade I'm doing this' so I said 'okay' because you should do what people ask you. And I was talking to Jade, and I accidentally told her, and she said that Beck likes you, really likes you," Cat explained in a single breath, her cheeks the same color as her violently-shaded hair.

Jade chokes on her latte, hacking cinnamon into the cup, thinking about Beck-what the hell you stalker? Then, she thinks-oh my God, the dude just bought me coffee, God, I want to feel his hair. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Beck talking to Andre, purposely avoiding her, and she stalks away from Cat and Tori. "You don't just buy any stranger you see in the hall a drink," Jade blurts the moment she approaches him.

Beck raises an eyebrow, just like Jade does, and tries not to smile and give himself away. "Who said you were a stranger?"

"I did," Jade counters icily, trying to resist the urge to take another drink from her latte, which is growing colder by the moment. "Just…don't leave warm beverages in my locker anymore, okay?" She walks away, turns the corner, locks herself in the janitor's closet, and spends twenty minutes alternating between laughing and crying.

:::::

The first time she sees his house is when Sikowitz pairs them up to write a screenplay. Of course, he gives them their selected genre-romance. Jade grits her teeth, and avoids Beck, but doesn't refuse his invitation to join him at his house.

So, when he's standing outside a huge rust-bucket, Jade does a double-take, dropping her school bag onto the driveway, non-pierced eyebrow raised. "You said house, not 'death cart'," is the first thing she says after scooping up her bag and following him inside. Jade has to admit, the whole place is pretty cool looking.

"My parents say as long as I live under their roof, I live under their rules; well, my roof, my rules," Beck smirks, and for some reason, Jade is reminded of her own motto about her mother, and she just wants to laugh for a little while. But she snorts instead, falling backwards onto his bed, leaving mascara tracks on his pillows.

"You are so fucking crazy," she murmurs into the pillows, and Jade hears him laugh, laugh like they're both crazy, and Jade doesn't laugh again.

But their screenplay got an A+.

:::::

It's midnight when Beck stumbles to the front door of the RV, half-asleep, only awakened by the knocks loud enough to wake the dead. There's Jade, wearing a too-tight night shirt and too-short shorts, who, in certain lighting, almost looks like she's been crying. Jade West does not cry. Just the mere thought sends chills down his spine.

"My mother," she whispers, almost electronically, and Jade just laughs, because it's so funny that she's on his doorstep (metaphorically, of course) and when he lets her inside, she just collapses on the bed, giggling almost like Cat would. "Oh, my mother. My stupid mother, getting herself fucking drunk." Jade pulls a pillow over her mouth to laugh even harder, and tears spill over the white nylon surface, and her chest feels like it's being torn apart, and she realizes that her mascara lines haven't been washed out of the pillows since the last time she visited.

"Parents suck," Beck chuckles darkly, sliding back under the rumpled sheets, and eversogently wrapping his arm around Jade's waist, since she's too numb to feel it. For a while, Jade just laughs, possibly to make up for all of the laughter she missed as a child, then she cries in a "I'm-kind-of-sobbing-but-don't-talk-to-me-about-it" way. Beck keeps his arm around her the entire time, copying every emotion.

"Beck?"

"Yeah?"

It's the last thing he remembers before his lips are against Jade's, and he traces the sharp points on the star on her forearm, and she finally runs her fingers through his blissfully silky hair, mouthing words into his throat, every sense intensified until she's in nothingness.

"Beck?"

He's trying to gather enough breath to answer. "Yeah?"

"Can we do that again?"

:::::

It takes Beck a week to realize that no matter what he does, he'll never really make Jade happy, but that's just Jade, and all he wants is just Jade. She doesn't come crying to his RV anymore, but he sometimes wants her to, he really wants her to be there, at his front door, grinning and ready to lock lips.

He really loves her though.

Jade tries to understand that Beck is trying to be nice to her, because after sixteen years of hatred, it's hard to get used to kindness. She sometimes pushes him away when they kiss, or ignores his threats for her to calm down, or gives the surprise coffee in her locker to Cat.

But he calls her "beautiful" not "hot" or "sexy." Someone has called her, Jade West, beautiful.

It's hard to forget.

:::::

"Hi."

There's a strange tugging at Jade's heart, and she remembers it, remembers feeling the tingling in her chest from Beck being so close at first…anxiety? Nerves? Love. For the first time in her life, Jade picks the third choice, turns around, smirking, smiling, not crying Jade.

"Whatever."

**Ahh, cornball ending. *Throws self off of cliff* But, I tried to write a good Bade one-shot, and I hope this doesn't suck enough so you could enjoy it. In other news, tomorrow is my birthday! So, for a cheap present, why don't you just click that little blue button down there, and tell me what you think? =)**


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